From all the indications, the honorable Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been able to convince the members of the National Assembly that there is no need to impeach the president over the inability of the federal government to fully implement the 2012 budget.
Before now, there were already signs that the lawmakers were already soft-pedaling on the impeachment plans. However, it seems the last straw has been broken with the most recent move by the Minister of Finance.
According to the Vanguard, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has presents what some of the lawmakers described as ‘an encouraging implementation report’ on the budget implementation. She was said to have met, for over four hours, with the Ahmed Muhammad Maccido-led Senate Committee on Appropriation, as well as Chairmen of other strategic committees in the National Assembly to brief them on the progress on the 2012 budget and consider the 2013-2015 Medium Term Fiscal Framework.
Following this meeting, one of the lawmakers has this to say:
“I can say that from the mood of our members they were convinced that at least some milestones have been made by the Executive since we gave them the ultimatum over the budget… In reality, we have decided to give them up to the end of the year to implement the budget as passed…”
Another lawmaker at the meeting said, “during the meeting, the Minister of Finance pleaded with us to remember that the budget was passed in April and that it would be improper to give a September deadline to the government and we think that she made a point there.”
Source: Vanguard
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